Automatic pistols, such as the Colt pistol, have a magazine of bullets which slides upward in a passageway in the handle of the pistol until it is fully inserted and a catch snaps into place to hold the magazine in the fully inserted position, from which bullets are fed into the firing chamber. The mechanism of the prior art pistol is operated by pushing inwardly on a spring biased button on the side of the handle just to the rear of the trigger. While this button can be pushed by the thumb of the hand holding the gun, it is somewhat awkward to do so without releasing the grip of the hand on the gun. And, of course, the button could be pushed by a finger from the other hand of the user. For those users who desire a minimum of time and effort in releasing an empty magazine and loading a full magazine, the prior art mechanism is too cumbersome. The present invention provides a quick release mechanism which does not require any loosening of the hand holding and firing the gun.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel magazine catch and release magazine. It is another object of this invention to provide a quick release mechanism which can be operated with the thumb of the hand holding the gun without releasing the grip of the hand about the gun handle. Still other objects will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows.